Tennessee Titans need to fix its third down defense

The Tennessee Titans’ defense has been terrible on third down to the point where it could remove the Titans from being a contender.

To say that the Tennessee Titans’ defense has been bad would be an understatement. If you watched the Titans game against the Steelers this past Sunday, then you might have noticed how the Steelers had a ton of third-down conversions. That’s been the Titans’ biggest issue so far this season on the defensive side of the football.

The Titans have the worst third-down defense in the league through the first six games of the season. The Titans’ opponents have a 61 percent success rate on third down, which is almost five percent worse than the next closest team.

If any team wants to be a contender in any given season, it helps to not be the worst in the league at something, especially third-down conversions. If you can’t get your defense off the field, then the high-powered offenses of the NFL will take over and won’t give you a chance to come back.

It gets worse. NFL writer Scott Kacsmar pointed out on Twitter that the Titans’ third-down defense isn’t just the worst in the league this season, but it’s the worst that the NFL has seen through six games in the past 30 years.

That just goes to show how much Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and the Titans’ offense are doing when they take the field. If Tannehill would’ve taken a step back this year instead of a step forward, then the Titans could be much worse than 5-1.

The Titans aren’t facing another NFL contender this week, but Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense has the capability of putting up 20+ points, especially against a struggling defense. We saw what Burrow did at LSU, and I think he can replicate that in Cincinnati with time.

If the Titans give him extra opportunities and have another abysmal third-down conversion rate this Sunday, then it could lead to Burrow putting on a highlight-reel performance.